Posts I've Made

Quite frankly, I prefer that the Devils are flying under the radar. I'm usually a glass-is-half-empty kind of guy, but personally I think the Devils future looks very bright. Sure, the Devils probably aren't going to win the Stanley Cup in the next two seasons or so, but I like the template Shero is putting out there. I like the young D corps, I like the cap room, I'm intrigued by the new head coach, our goal tending has the potential to be in the top of the league for the foreseeable future, Zacha looks like he's the real deal, and the Devils have some nice draft picks in the next few years as well. Yeah, the Devils are going to have some growing pains. But as a Devils fan, I'm way less miserably than I was 6 months ago. And, at the very least, our team didn't just trade away Dougie Hamilton. So there's that ...

When was the last time we lost a RFA? We literally had 0% chance of losing him here. And didn't we do a similar deal for Henrique a few years ago? Let's not go overboard with the subtle knocks on Lou.

As others have said, it has the potential to be a great deal, but that is only the case if he continues improving. That being said, I like the deal as I think Larsson is a first pair D.

I wholeheartedly agree. It's a good deal, surprised it was for 6 years and not 5 but that could ultimately work into the Devils favor as well. If he continues to improve on even a reasonably conservative trajectory, this deal will be considered a steal. But it's far too early to say with any certainty that this is a homerun contract because there are clearly some significant risks associated with that length of term alone. If Larsson's development goes south for whatever reason, especially early in his contract, it's not going to be pretty. But since the Devils have tons of cap room, they probably have a little more leeway than most teams to make that kind of gamble - which is a nice luxury to have. In any event, it's clear that the Devils brass really like what they're seeing from Larsson, especially as of late. And I think that's rather nice to see.

p.s. An interesting question to the forum: Would Lou have given Larsson a similar contract?

I have so many thoughts on this Devils offseason (my head is still spinning), but I think it's probably for the best that Lou heads elsewhere at this point. I do think Lou's hands were tied in the whole Parise contract deal (although I think they should have started negotiations way earlier), I don't think Lou was completely on board with the Kovy contract, etc., ... but the fact remains, Lou had plenty of horrible to head-scratching signings over the past 8 years or so. I also find it interesting that Lou jumped on board with Toronto - that media market and Lou are going to be like oil and water. The Toronto Make-BelieLeafs are a terrible team and they're not going to be good for a few years at the very earliest. Lou bristled at the slight media coverage he received in Jersey (status quo) so how is he going to function in the meat grinder of the Ontario media markets? It's going to be fun to watch. Overall, I'm pretty happy with the changes for the Devils - time will tell if they were the right moves or not. But the Devils, at the very least, are heading into the 21st Century where the Leafs are jumping into a time machine heading back to the 1980s. And the Devils wind up with a nice 3rd round pick to boot. So while I'll miss the glory days of Lou, Conte and Marty, I think the Devils are wise to move on.

Look, man, I've got certain information, all right? Certain things have come to light. And, you know, has it ever occurred to you, that, instead of, uh, you know, running around, uh, uh, blaming me, you know, given the nature of all this new sh!t, you know, I-I-I-I... this could be a-a-a-a lot more, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, complex, I mean, it's not just, it might not be just such a simple... uh, you know?